Tola, Makau, Abdirahman, Ramaala, and Gharib join New York Half-Marathon field

New York, USA - Some of the world’s best long-distance runners, including defending champion Tadese Tola of Ethiopia, two-time IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships silver medalist Patrick Makau of Kenya, three-time 10,000m Olympian Abdi Abdirahman of the United States, ING New York City Marathon 2004 winner Hendrick Ramaala of South Africa, and 2008 Olympic marathon silver medalist and two-time World Marathon champion Jaouad Gharib of Morocco, will duel on the streets of Manhattan at the NYC Half-Marathon on Sunday, 16 August, it was announced today by New York Road Runners president and CEO Mary Wittenberg.

Previously announced for the fourth annual 13.1-mile race was top American marathoner and 2008 Olympian Ryan Hall, 26, of Mammoth Lakes, CA, who will make his NYC Half-Marathon debut.

“This is a glittering lineup of the world’s best emerging stars like Tola, Makau, and Hall, side by side with ageless veterans like Ramaala, Abdi, and Gharib,” said Wittenberg. “It should be a fast and furious race through the streets of Manhattan.”

A trio of the sport’s all-time greats—defending champion and two-time Olympic medalist Catherine Ndereba of Kenya, 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Deena Kastor of the U.S., and half-marathon world record-holder Lornah Kiplagat of the Netherlands—headline the women’s field.

Tola, 21, edged Kenya’s Patrick Makau in the final meters to win by one second in last year’s NYC Half-Marathon, finishing in 1:00:58. Tola will make his first trip to New York since running the fastest 10K ever recorded in Central Park at the 2009 Healthy Kidney 10K in a time of 27:48.

Makau, 24, held on to finish second at the Healthy Kidney 10K in 28:28, nine seconds slower than his winning performance the previous year. Earlier this year, Makau ran the second-fastest half-marathon ever (58:52) at the Ras Al Khaimah Half-Marathon and made his marathon debut at the Fortis Rotterdam Marathon in April, finishing fourth in a time of 2:06:14.

Abdirahman, 32, of Tucson, AZ, will return to New York after running the Healthy Kidney 10K, where he finished 11th in 29:02 coming off of a knee injury. A four-time USA champion at 10,000 meters, he qualified for his third Olympic team by winning the 10,000 meters at the 2008 Olympic Team Trials – Track & Field and finished 15th in the event (27:52.53) at the Beijing Olympic Games. Abdirahman made his third appearance at the ING New York City Marathon last November and finished in sixth place (2:14:17).

The only man to ever win two World Championships marathon titles, Gharib, 37, of Morocco, who finished third at the London Marathon earlier this year in a Moroccan record time of 2:05:27, and four-time Olympian Ramaala, 37, who holds several South African records, including 59:20 for the half-marathon, will also compete.

Athletes will be vying for a prize purse of more than $70,000, with the men’s and women’s winners each receiving $10,000.

A one-hour same-day highlights show of the race will air from 11:35 p.m. until 12:35 a.m. on WABC-TV, Channel 7, in New York City.

New York Road Runners

Ndereba and a hot men’s race at Bogota Half Marathon

Bogota, Colombia – Reigning World marathon champion Catherine Ndereba in the women’s race, and what should be a hotly contested men’s race, highlight the 10th edition of the Bogota International Half Marathon on Sunday (2 Aug).

The Bogota International Half Marathon is an IAAF Gold Label Road Race.

Ndereba returns

Ndereba, who turned 37-years-old last week, is a two-time World Marathon champion and she is making the trip to Bogota for the second time. In 2006 she won in 1:12:56. (The race is run at an altitude of 2600 meters.)

The Kenyan is, of course, a four-time winner of the Boston marathon and a silver medallist in the last two Olympic Games Marathons. This year she was seventh at the London Marathon and second at the City Pier City Half Marathon. She has a 1:07:54 PB for the half marathon, and Bogota is the beginning of a late summer racing season that includes the New York Half Marathon in two weeks.

Yet Ndereba should be strongly challenged by Kenya’s Pamela Chepchumba, Russia’s Tatiana Aryasova and Mexico’s Dulce Maria Rodriguez.

Chepchumba, the defending champion, has a 1:08:06 PB and bronze medals from the last two World Half Marathon Championships on her shelf. Aryosova was the 2008 Los Angeles Marathon winner, and has a PB of 1:10:20. Rodriguez, a 2008 Olympic 10,000 meter finalist, has a 1:10:30 half marathon PB to her credit.

Makau vs. Macharia

In the men’s race, the year’s fastest half marathoner, Patrick Makau, is set to square off against two-time defending champ Isaac Macharia.

Makau, 24, who ran 58:52 for his PB in February at the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon, possibly missed a World record at that race, if not for a stiff head wind. He has nine sub-one-hour half marathons on his resume and is a two-time runner-up at the World Half Marathon Championships. In addition to Ras Al Khaimah, the tactically aggressive runner has notched half-marathon wins at Reading, City Pier City, Berlin and Rotterdam. He has a marathon PB of 2:06:14, in his debut at Rotterdam this year.

Macharia, 28, on the other hand, is a three-time winner at Bogota - he won for the first time in 2004 - and has a 1:00:48 PB. He was the Great Scottish Run Half Marathon Champion in 2007, and has runner-up finishes at the 2007 Delhi Half Marathon and the 2008 Dubai Half Marathon. He has a marathon PB of 2:07:16.

But if one race stands out in this head-to-head match it would be round one, Bogota in 2007. There, Macharia got the best of Makau…by a lot. Macharia’s winning time of 1:03: 40 was almost two minutes up on Makau (1:05:33) in fourth place. Of course, that was two years ago and Makau should be better ready for Bogota’s altitude, as well as Macharia’s race tactics. Last year Macharia went virtually from the gun.

Waiting in the wings to possibly steal the race are Kenya’s Wilson Chebet and Morocco’s Ridouane Harroufi.

Chebet was 40 seconds back of Makau at Ras Al Khaimah this year (for the fourth best time of the year) and has 2009 wins at the Pardubice and Rabat half marathons.

This year Harroufi was second at the Peachtree Road race and the winner at the Boilermaker 15K. Last year was Harroufi’s debut in Bogota and he struggled with the altitude, finishing 8th in 1:07:02. The second time around he should be a lot closer to his PB of 1:01:37.

More than 45,000 runners in a combined half marathon and 10K will tour Bogota and finish in Simon Bolivar Park.

Dave Kuehls for the IAAF